OPPORTUNITY – ‘LICENSED INTERNET ASSOCIATESHIPS’ FROM THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

The National Archives (TNA) is the National Archive for England and Wales and the United Kingdom and holds the records of government from the Domesday Book of 1086 to the present day. These records cover almost all aspects of the interaction between government and citizens and as such are extensively used by a wide range of users, notably family historians, local historians and academic researchers.

As part of our e-business strategy, we wish to provide online access to digitised images of our documents over the Internet. TNA is seeking Licensed Internet Associates (Associates) to help us to achieve our vision by participating in the commercial digitisation of genealogical – and other – records.

How the Associateships work: Over the last few years TNA has licensed a wide range of applicants to use images of its holdings on a non-exclusive basis as part of their commercial products or services. Since 2004 we have also offered a successful range of co-branded ‘LIA’ licenses, which have enabled many of our most popular record series – including all the historic censuses – to become available online. We are now looking to expand this programme and get even more of our popular and valuable material digitised and online over the coming years.

Associates are expected to cover the full cost of digitising the records and developing and running the service, TNA receives a royalty on all sales of the records made from the service and in return will market and promote it like one of its own online services.

To enable this expansion we have carefully selected material we believe has great popular potential and ‘packaged’ them into complementary thematic collections. We have also identified one or two additional series which we will be looking to license on a standalone basis. It is our intention to appoint one associate for each package of records or standalone series.

1. Online Services developed under the enhanced licence will be produced in association with TNA. Associates will be able to use TNA name and logo on all products and services to demonstrate TNA’s official accreditation of the accuracy, quality and design of the particular service. (For further details regarding the accreditation process, please see below under Further Information.)

2. All LIA services provided by Associates will be linked to TNA website, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (which receives over 20 million visits per year) and to TNA’s online catalogue, ‘The Catalogue’. Users should be able to access the co-branded services directly or from links on the TNA website, or via TNA’s search functionality.

3. TNA will undertake to work with Associates during the development of Online Services, and can provide:

   - Advice and guidance on the selection of material for digitisation.
   - Advice on the historical background to records selected or under consideration
   - Advice on image conversion and approach to indexing/digitisation.
   - Preferential access to original records for scanning - or filmed copies if available. • Assistance with Marketing and PR plans around launch and on an on-going basis. • Access to appropriate research carried out by or for TNA into the market for online services.

4. The Licensed Associates will be expected to contribute the following: • The entire investment in the preparation, digitisation, indexing, hosting, delivery and marketing of Online Services of the selected record sets. • Appropriate customer and technical support for their licensed Online Services for the duration of the licence. • It is also TNA’s intention to work with Associates to explore and identify further shared commercial opportunities which may result from TNA content.

In order to be eligible for an LIA, there are certain mandatory requirements in terms of the nature of the service, e.g. the existence of a ‘free search’ facility and the option of a ‘pay-per-view’ charging model option are both mandatory requirements. Further information Businesses which meet the following criteria will be eligible to apply for Licensed Internet Associateships:

General

1. TNA will only conclude Associateships with businesses whose values, practices and products do not conflict with TNA policy or ethics. TNA’s ethical stance is to seek to ally itself only with those organisations that are compatible with TNA’s mission, goals, objectives, priorities and values.

2. Businesses will be asked to supply details of their company background, and to demonstrate that they have sufficient financial backing for the investment needed to match the size and complexity of the proposed candidate record series. New potential Associates will be asked to supply three years’ audited accounts and TNA will carry out other financial checks to ensure that requirements are satisfied.

3. Businesses will also need to supply evidence of a track record in the provision of online information services to the proposed market.

4. Businesses will be expected to follow the Government’s guidelines on website accessibility. Details can be found on the web-site of The Central Office of Information at: www.coi.gov.uk/guidance.php?page=188

Major Requirements of the Associateship Agreement

1. Duration Contracts will be let for an initial ten-year period, with the possibility of extension in cases where performance targets acceptable to TNA are agreed and achieved.

2. Payment of Royalties The Associate will pay TNA quarterly a royalty based on net invoiced revenue. For the purposes of this initiative, net invoiced revenue is defined as sales revenue received by the Associates from the Online Services after the deduction of trade discounts and VAT or other sales taxes. The parties will be required to agree suitable royalty rates dependent particular nature of their proposal but within the LIA programme benchmark royalty rates of 7-15%, as well as appropriate payment terms.

3. Indicative Reporting Requirements Associates will be expected to supply TNA, in confidence, with monthly usage statements. Each statement will contain details of online usage statistics for each set of material licensed to the Associate and a calculation of royalty due. Customer service statistics will also be required. Associates will be expected to maintain accurate accounting records and invoices covering all transactions relating to any materials licensed under Associateship agreements.

4. Intellectual Property Rights Associates will not acquire any Intellectual Property Rights in any material licensed under these agreements, or in any adaptation of it (that is, any digitisation of the images or subsequent digital adaptation, although intellectual property rights in indexes or transcriptions, or any database rights in the whole will remain with that Associate). The licensed material will only be usable by Associates for the purposes specified within the licence agreement between the parties.

5. Technical Criteria In order for the application to be approved, potential Associates must conform to certain technical specifications. As part of negotiations, TNA will review the technical infrastructure of the proposed LIA service including transcription, indexing, Quality Assessment, customer care and the provision of a suitable mechanism to allow for the alteration and correction of online data.

6. On-site Access at TNA The Associate is required to grant to TNA a complimentary on-site multiple user licence to the Online Services for free use on TNA site in Kew.

Making an Application: The National Archives is currently inviting proposals for the commercial digitisation of a number records and packages under the Licensed Internet Associateship programme. You can find greater details on these via: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/business/popular_records.htm

Download and submit an application form today: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/lia-application-2008v1.1.rtf

Contact: associates@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk